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Original poster

Center Parcs closing for funeral

543 replies

ViscountessBridgerton · 13/09/2022 12:43

Had the email to say Monday arrival delayed until Tuesday, can't get in until 4pm. 30% refund offered. From social media, it looks like people on a 7 night break are actually expected to leave at 10am on the Monday and not come back until Tuesday! People on a weekend break aren't being compensated for having to leave by 10am on the Monday.

AIBU to think wtf?!?!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
13
QuebecBagnet · 13/09/2022 19:36

Guess at least they don’t blacklist people with Irish surnames like Butlins. 🤷‍♀️

QuebecBagnet · 13/09/2022 19:37

Or was it Pontins?

tigger1001 · 13/09/2022 19:38

"You best ring my boss then and tell him I won't be in Monday because you said we weren't opening."

Mine too as we are not closing. Neither is my partners work.

User56473 · 13/09/2022 19:40

I’ve NC but I’m a non/Fri cleaner at CP. Contrary to what’s been said I find Cp a great place to work. Yes low pay but the perks are great (free use of facilities). We’ve been offered the day of as leave, to work as normal or to work on Tuesday instead. For me this is absolutely great as I rarely get a bank holiday off with my family and I would have watched the funeral (can have it on in the lodge when cleaning anyway). From a business point of view I simply can’t fathom it! My theories are

  1. The board are made up of rich people who are completely out of touch and have been whipped up in the hysteria. I blame the media in part for this. They have panicked and think that CP will be criticised for staying open when other leisure facilities are shutting. Or they’re all mad royalists or friends with the RF.
  2. The cleaning staff are made up of mostly mums with school/nursery aged dc and older ladies (yes it is majority female). So they think they either can’t come in because of childcare or won’t come in because they love the queen and will want to watch. Half our staff are bussed in so supposing the bus companies have said they won’t operate (just a theory) plus the people who pull a sickie means half the lodges won’t be cleaned for new guests arrival at 4pm Monday. Guests all kick off anyway and refunds given. They will never set the precedent of tempting staff in with double time because then it would be expected every bank hol /Xmas/etc. They’d rather take the PR hit now.
bellac11 · 13/09/2022 19:40

Ive only just heard about ths, I suspect it will cost them more in lost business than they would have paid out in extra staff wages.

Big mistake

BonesOfWhatYouBelieve · 13/09/2022 19:43

I genuinely cannot fathom the conversation that must have gone on in the meeting where they decided the best thing to do was make some guests leave for 24 hours mid-stay.
I see the logic of having guests arrive late (even if I wouldn’t necessarily have made that decision), but to kick people out for 24 hours is bizarre.

TheLette · 13/09/2022 19:43

Whoever made this decision at CP does not give a single crap about consumer protection law. Which makes me think if I stayed there and had a different kind of problem, that it wouldn't be resolved. Which makes me conclude that this is not a place I want to stay. I really hope someone firmly reminds them of consumer protection law by taking small claims action or refusing to leave on Monday.

tigger1001 · 13/09/2022 19:45

Florenz · 13/09/2022 18:37

If it's true that the staff aren't being paid it's a different story and I change my mind. The staff should be paid. If they can get enough people willing to work to keep the centres open with minimal facilities they should stay open. But no-one should have to work on the day of the funeral other than emergency services and other vital services. Centre Parcs is not a vital service.

Not everyone is in a financial position to lose wages though. Not everyone gets bank holidays off and those who do don't always get every bank holiday. Often it's in their contract for a certain number of bank holidays per year and at this point in the calendar year there aren't many bank holidays left to swap.

Many will lose financially at being forced to take the time off.

It's not mandatory.

Housebytheseanc · 13/09/2022 19:47

Florenz · 13/09/2022 19:32

Shops and pubs should shut too.

Show quote history

But they are not, lots of pubs staying open and I highly doubt they care what you think as to them staying open. It’s a money making opportunity which is why I’m surprised CP have actually decided to close!

vera99 · 13/09/2022 19:55

And we thought CenterParcs was going to win the award for the shittiest decision of the day. Clarence House says "hold my beer!"

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/13/king-charles-staff-given-redundancy-notice-during-church-service-for-queen?

bellac11 · 13/09/2022 19:57

BonesOfWhatYouBelieve · 13/09/2022 19:43

I genuinely cannot fathom the conversation that must have gone on in the meeting where they decided the best thing to do was make some guests leave for 24 hours mid-stay.
I see the logic of having guests arrive late (even if I wouldn’t necessarily have made that decision), but to kick people out for 24 hours is bizarre.

Even then, theres nothing wrong with people arriving at normal check in time which is 4pm, this is after the funeral so staff can watch it in the staff areas beforehand if they want, some might not be interested

This is nothing about 'respect' whatever that means, but all about not wanting to pay wages

courtgou · 13/09/2022 20:01

User56473 · 13/09/2022 19:40

I’ve NC but I’m a non/Fri cleaner at CP. Contrary to what’s been said I find Cp a great place to work. Yes low pay but the perks are great (free use of facilities). We’ve been offered the day of as leave, to work as normal or to work on Tuesday instead. For me this is absolutely great as I rarely get a bank holiday off with my family and I would have watched the funeral (can have it on in the lodge when cleaning anyway). From a business point of view I simply can’t fathom it! My theories are

  1. The board are made up of rich people who are completely out of touch and have been whipped up in the hysteria. I blame the media in part for this. They have panicked and think that CP will be criticised for staying open when other leisure facilities are shutting. Or they’re all mad royalists or friends with the RF.
  2. The cleaning staff are made up of mostly mums with school/nursery aged dc and older ladies (yes it is majority female). So they think they either can’t come in because of childcare or won’t come in because they love the queen and will want to watch. Half our staff are bussed in so supposing the bus companies have said they won’t operate (just a theory) plus the people who pull a sickie means half the lodges won’t be cleaned for new guests arrival at 4pm Monday. Guests all kick off anyway and refunds given. They will never set the precedent of tempting staff in with double time because then it would be expected every bank hol /Xmas/etc. They’d rather take the PR hit now.

I will absolutely second this on behalf of my sil, she loves working at center parcs and currently has no plan to move on in the foreseeable future. And of course it’s great you’ve been given options for Monday but unfortunately that’s not the case for many of the other staff, this decision has fucked over a lot of them and all their customers.

Summerofcontent · 13/09/2022 20:06

Centre parks have buses for staff to get to work. Are those bus companies working?

NancyDrooo · 13/09/2022 20:13

@User56473

What proportion of CP guests would actually be there for a whole week Friday-Friday? I know most people stay for 3 or 4 nights so just wondering how many lodges will be affected by having to “move out”?

User56473 · 13/09/2022 20:13

Summerofcontent · 13/09/2022 20:06

Centre parks have buses for staff to get to work. Are those bus companies working?

Yes they do. I wonder if this could be behind it. Just to clarify everyone is being paid the holiday, and those that work it will get a day off in lieu. So it’s an extra days leave for all which they didn’t have to do. Totally awful for the guests though. Can’t really believe it.

User56473 · 13/09/2022 20:15

NancyDrooo · 13/09/2022 20:13

@User56473

What proportion of CP guests would actually be there for a whole week Friday-Friday? I know most people stay for 3 or 4 nights so just wondering how many lodges will be affected by having to “move out”?

This is the other thing. It’s quite rare that people come for a whole week tbh. I have seen on SM some saying they were booking for a week but they will be a very small minority.

Housebytheseanc · 13/09/2022 20:15

Apparently they have no backtracked on their decision for people staying Friday - Friday. They can stay on site but nothing will be open.

still pretty peed off that we are having our holiday cut short by a day.. they could easily have stopped activities for the majority of the day and opened again later on in the day for arrivals.

User56473 · 13/09/2022 20:16

I don’t actually think they will kick people out mid stay. BBC says something about them ‘discussing options’ with week long guests.

User56473 · 13/09/2022 20:17

Housebytheseanc · 13/09/2022 20:15

Apparently they have no backtracked on their decision for people staying Friday - Friday. They can stay on site but nothing will be open.

still pretty peed off that we are having our holiday cut short by a day.. they could easily have stopped activities for the majority of the day and opened again later on in the day for arrivals.

Ah that’s good! Was absolute madness.

NancyDrooo · 13/09/2022 20:28

User56473 · 13/09/2022 20:15

This is the other thing. It’s quite rare that people come for a whole week tbh. I have seen on SM some saying they were booking for a week but they will be a very small minority.

Show quote history

I thought so!

Everyone departing has to be out of their lodge at 10am anyway and a lot of those go straight home. Others will miss an swim/lunch. Annoying but understandable. The new arrivals are missing 24 hours but are getting refunded for it.

Glad they’ve clarified those few Fri-Fri guests can stay the night, was crazy to suggest otherwise!!

FettleOfKish · 13/09/2022 20:32

@User56473 Minority or not, asking even 1 set of guests to piss off for 24 hours mid-stay is madness. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when that decision was signed off 🤯

I'm not surprised to see there's some back-tracking on it, but too late to avoid irreparable damage to their reputation, in all likelihood.

Interesting to hear from a member of staff and get a bit more insight though, so thank you for sharing.

PeloFondo · 13/09/2022 20:38
Grin
Center Parcs closing for funeral
tenbob · 13/09/2022 20:43

User56473 · 13/09/2022 20:15

This is the other thing. It’s quite rare that people come for a whole week tbh. I have seen on SM some saying they were booking for a week but they will be a very small minority.

Show quote history

That makes the ‘leave for 24 hours’ thing even MORE ridiculous then

If it’s just a handful, they could and should have been offered a v limited service and left to it, or given the option to leave early and get a refund

Its going to take them years to get their reputation back after this clusterfuck

Howdoidothisanymore · 13/09/2022 20:57

The Times says that they are U turning...

NancyDrooo · 13/09/2022 20:59

“Its going to take them years to get their reputation back after this clusterfuck”

lol no it’s not, it’ll be forgotten about in a couple of weeks and they’ll continue to be fully booked and raking it in all year round.